


my horse prince

by sixclawsdragon



Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Curses, M/M, Magic, horse saguru au, not related to the game my horse prince in any way
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2020-03-02 14:08:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18812485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sixclawsdragon/pseuds/sixclawsdragon
Summary: Kaito meets a very strange horse in the woods





	my horse prince

**Author's Note:**

> You can thank the hakukai server and onyeenhok for the title

Kaito is hunting in the woods when he first sees the horse. He lowers his bow when it notices him, not wanting to spook it.  
  
“Hey, there. Where did you come from?” He speaks softly as he inches closer. The horse looks wary but allows him to approach. It’s a pretty horse, with a light golden coat and white mane and tail. Kaito’s sure it belongs to someone, it must have gotten loose. Maybe he can find its owner, surely it hasn’t gone far from its home.  
  
The only problem is that he has no idea how to lead a horse anywhere. He doesn’t have any rope to tie it or food to lure it with, just his bow and a few tools.  
  
“Uh...go home.” He tells it. “Shoo. Back to your stable.”  
  
The horse gives him a somehow skeptical look, but takes a few steps into the trees before pausing and looking back at him.  
  
“What, you want me to come with you?” Following a horse wouldn’t be the strangest thing he’s done, so he shrugs and goes after it. The horse leads him through the woods to a small house, and Kaito’s surprised that telling it to go home really worked.  
  
He knocks on the door, planning to tell the owner that their horse had escaped, but there’s no answer and no sound from the house. No sign of life at all, in fact.  
  
“Where’s your owner?” Kaito murmurs to the horse, leaning over to look in through a window. The horse pulls him back to the door by a mouthful of his shirt.  
  
“Hey!” He snatches it back and smooths it down. The horse butts its head against the door, then looks at him again. This is already weird enough, but...  
  
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but are you trying to tell me to go inside?” The horse whinnies softly, and Kaito shakes his head. “Alright, this might as well happen.”  
  
He takes one more look in the widow to make sure no one’s home before he pulls out a spare key and a file. He tries the key to make sure its the right kind for this lock, then files down the teeth, testing it in the lock as he goes, until it can bypass the wards in the lock. The door swings open.  
  
“There, now what? Is your owner in there?” He looks at the horse, who is staring at him. He sighs. “I gotta stop talking to you, I must be going crazy.”  
  
Kaito decides he may as well check the house, since the horse seemed so insistent on getting in. He calls out as he enters, the horse following him in, but no one answers. The house is empty, and there’s a light layer of dust over everything that tells him it’s been empty for at least several days.   
  
The horse whinnies at him again, over by the far wall of the room. When he gets closer, he can see that the horse is nudging a painting with its nose. The painting is simple, a man and woman with a blond boy about Kaito’s age between them.   
  
“Are these your owners?” He wonders aloud, giving up on not talking to the horse. “Did something happen to them?”  
  
The horse presses its nose against the canvas of the painting, over the boy. Kaito could swear the horse is trying to tell him something, but he has no idea what it is. The horse snorts and brushes past him, leaving the house.  
  
“Hey, wait!” He jogs after it and finds it scratching something in the dirt with its hoof. Whatever it’s doing looks almost like letters: I, M, H, U, M-holy shit.  
  
The horse has written “IM HUMAN.” Kaito stares at the words in the dirt for a moment before looking up at the horse (or not a horse?).  
  
“You’re human?” He asks, and the horse nods its head. “Then why are you a horse?”  
  
The horse stomps and huffs at him, and Kaito realizes he can’t have a conversation with it if it can’t talk.  
  
“Right, sorry. Um...” Kaito has to think for a moment, because despite his ordinary brand of weirdness, this is a new level of weird. “I know someone who might be able to help.”  
  
The horse looks almost excited, but Kaito can’t share its-their, the horse is a person-enthusiasm. Akako may be able to help them, or she may just turn Kaito into a horse too. But he can’t just leave the horse person to stay a horse.  
  
“This way, it’s a bit of a walk.” He starts off in the direction he’d pointed out to the horse. They follow. “So I know you’re not a real horse, but is there any chance I could ride you? We’d get there faster.”  
  
The horse doesn’t respond, obviously, but they also don’t stop to let him climb on, so he takes that as a no.

It’s an hour’s walk to Akako’s mansion, and Kaito spends it in semi-awkward silence, since it would be sort of unfair for him to keep rambling when the horse can’t answer or even tell him to shut up. He’s relieved when they finally arrive.

“Welcome back, Kuroba-san. My mistress has been expecting you.” Akako’s probably-a-demon butler greets them at the gate. Being here makes Kaito a little nervous, but he isn’t about to let Akako or her weird servant see that.  
  
“This way.” The butler leads them to Akako’s fancy throne room, where she’s sitting in an ornate chair in a wine red evening gown.  
  
“Kuroba. What a pleasure.” She purrs. “And I see you’ve brought a friend. A very...interesting friend, in fact.”  
  
“That’s why we’re here, Akako-hime. We need your help.”  
  
“I will never tire of hearing that from you, Kuroba. Don’t worry, I know all about his situation.” She steps down from her dais and looks over the horse. “Unfortunately, I don’t believe I can break this curse. You’ve angered someone very powerful, haven’t you?”  
  
The horse stomps a hoof and snorts, and Akako laughs. She waves a hand at her butler, who leaves the room.  
  
“Don’t be rude, little hawk, or I’ll leave you like this.” Kaito wonders about her word choice, but the butler returns before he thinks to ask.  
  
“Here are the items you requested, Mistress.” He holds out a leather case, open to display a necklace with a radiant cut ruby set into it, and a matching bracelet. Akako lifts the necklace from the box and places it around the horse’s neck.  
  
“Unfortunately, breaking your curse is beyond even my power, but I can give you this gift.” She touches the ruby. “It will allow you to speak while you’re in this form by sending your thoughts to the wearer of the bracelet. I’m sure you can figure out how to use it.”  
  
“Kuroba, you’ll have to have this on to hear him.” Akako hands him the bracelet, and he looks it over before putting it on his wrist.  
  
“Well? Now what?” He asks, and she just smiles.  
  
“Now you try it out. Speak to him.” She nods at the horse. They’re all silent for a moment.  
  
“ _Hello? Tell her thank you_.” The horse’s mouth doesn’t move, but the words are in Kaito’s head anyway.  
  
“Uh, he says thank you.” He repeats, and Akako looks pleased.   
  
“As I thought, a quick learner. Now, if you wish to find a way to regain your human form, you’ll have to look for magic more powerful than my own. There are few witches who can help you, and fewer still who _would_.” She pauses, letting them process that. “Your best option is to seek out magical objects, especially those known to heal or to break curses. I will give you a list to begin with.”

She snaps her fingers, and the butler hands her a small scroll, which she hands to Kaito, who is the only one who has hands. He unrolls it and looks at the short list of names and descriptions written in it.

“Thank you, Akako-hime.” She’d done more than Kaito had hoped after she said she couldn’t break the curse herself. The horse echos his gratitude, and Kaito repeats it aloud to Akako.

“One more thing, before you go. If the hawk and the dove cannot work together, neither will succeed. Your fates are bound together now, for good or ill. Beware the crows, and beware the vultures who will circle.”

And with that cryptic warning, they leave Akako.

“So, now that you can talk, can I ask again why you’re a horse?” Kaito asks idly as he reads the scroll. “What did you do to make someone curse you?”

“ _No, you may not ask. I’d rather not discuss it._ ” The horse replies, and Kaito shrugs.

“Will you at least tell me your name?”

“ _Hakuba Saguru. Thank you for helping me, by the way. Not many people would have followed a horse back to my house.”_

“I’m Kuroba Kaito, and I’m not exactly most people.” He leans against a tree. “Anyway, we need a plan. Akako’s list has the locations of these magical objects, so I say we start with the closest ones.”

“ _That would be sensible. Where is the nearest one?”_

“Pretty close, actually. It’s an emerald called the Dragon’s Eye in a town about a day’s walk from here. Ooor…”

“ _Or what?_ ” Kaito can hear the suspicion in Hakuba’s telepathic voice.

“If you let me ride, we can cover that distance faster than if I have to walk. Four legs are faster than two, after all.”

“ _No. I’m not a real horse, I refuse to act like one._ ” He tosses his head in what Kaito tactfully does not point out as a very equine manner.

“We’d better start walking, then.”


End file.
